Bottle-sealing machine.



A. L. WBISSBNTHANNER.

BOTTLE SELLING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 12. 1906. 4

f Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

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A u x UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEieE.

ALFRED L. WEISSENTHANNER. OF YORK, N. Y.

BOTTLE-stimme inclinan.-

Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

Application led July 12, 1906. SeriakNo. 826,887.

To all ywhom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, ALFRED L. WErssEN- THANNER, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at New York city, in the county oi New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Im- 'provements in Bottle-Sealingl Machines, of

which the following is a specincation.

In certain types of bottle sealing machines the sealing orilange bending tool, usually in the form of a roller, is madel to operate against the cap flange in a horizontal plane,.

the pressure being so applied as'to cause the sealing tool to bear against the underside of the shoulder on thel bottle head. rIhis frequently results in ineffective sealing due to the grinding action of the roller on the cap flange which drives the metal forward and ycauses it to buckle. These rollers in operation strike the bottle immediately under the shoulder thereon and in. the absence ol` any provision for vertical adjustment they are not adapted to the ellicient sealing of botles which vary in height or in depth of shoul# er. I

The purpose of the present invention is to construct a machine which shall be capableof effective sealing under all conditions of variations in height of bottles, width of mouths, and thickness and depth of shoulders, without any lamination, stretching or buckling of the-metal flange. In the enibodiment of the invention herein described this purpose is accomplished -by mounting one or more sealing tools, in the form of rollers `having a flange' constituting the working edge, in a plane at an angle to a horizontal plane. The support whichcarries the sealing tool is yieldingly mounted to permit of a movement of said tool in its plane toward and away from the bottle head, and the tool slight deviation from said plane due to inequalities in the bottle shoulder which'may be met with inthe circumferential travel of the sealing tool. As here constructed the sealing tool'is carried by a pulley having a bear-y mg on a longitudinally movable spindle the lower end of which constitutes a chuck to receive the bottle. When the bottle is forced into the chuck the spindle is raised carrying with it the pulley and sealing tool, so that as the relative positions of the spindle and sealing tool always 'remain the same, so far'as -vertical adjustment is concerned, the latter will be carried to its proper position for sealing whatever the height of the bottle may be.

The invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in.

which- Figure 1 is'a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section of a sealing machine `ead embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 avertical section on an enlarged scale of a portion of the mechanism of Fig. 1, illustratin the relative positions ofthe parts immediate y before the sealing operation. Fig. 4 isa view similar to Fig. 3 showing the parts in position durin the sealing operation. Fig. 5 is a horizonte section on the plane of the line 5-5 of Fig. 3 and Fig. 6 a horizontal section on the plane of the line 6--6 of Fig. 4. Similar reference numerals indicate simila parts in the several views.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 1 designates the upper part of the frame of the .machine in the form of a casting having integral therewith laterally projecting brackets 2 and 3. The latter is formed with a transverse head bored longitudinally toreceive a shaft on which pulleys 4-4 are mounted.V vA l belt (not shown) driven from a suitable power shaft passes around said pulleys and around pulley 12 for the ypurpose of rotating the latter.

The bracket 2 near its outer end' has a vertical bore 2' as indicated in Fig. 1, and held' therein by suitable means, as a screw 5, is a sleeve 6 the lower part of which is beveled at 6 to constitute a cam., Extending centrally through the opening in bracket 2 is a spindle 7 which is longitudinally movable but held ing a groove in a collar 9. The latter is' held Aagainst rotation by a spline 8 thereon cngagin its seat in the upper part of the opening 2 by a screw 10 or other suitable means. Near its lower end the spindle 7 .is provided with a collar 11, and surrounding said spindle and bearing on collar 11 is a pulley 12. The latterhas a centrally disposed integral annular flange 13 rising from the web 12 and extend;-x

ing upwardly into the opening 2 of bracket 2 betweenspipdle 7 and the cone cam 6. Spindle 7 passes through ther flange` 13 without binding thereon.

The pulley 12, in the embodiment of the inventionl illustrated, carries three sealing rollers and as these are mounted in a similar I manner it w1ll only be necessary to specifically describe one of them. 1t may be stated here that I ido not limit myself to the exact number of sealing rollers shown as a greater or less number may be employed. Projecti ing upwardly from the web 12 of pulley 12 is a stud or. nipple 14 bored longitudinally to provide a bearing for a vertical spindle 15` Clamped to the, lower projecting end of spindle 15 is a split collarl constituting part of a casting which also comprises a depending arm 17 having a head 18 disposed at an angle thereto. The said head is bored longitudinally, as indicated in liig. 4, and is adapted `to receive an open ended cylindrical casing 19 constituting a support for a sealing tool in the form of a roller 20, said roller bein-g revolubly mounted on a stud .carried by a bifurcated head 19 of the support 19. The outer end of the head 18 is closed by a screw cap 18, and between said cap and the end wall ot' the support 19 is a spring 2l adapted to be compressed when the sealing roller bears f against the cap llange.

vWhile the roller support has longitudinal movement in the head 18 any rotary movement therein is prevented by a stud22 passing through said head and engaging the walls of a longitudinal slot 22 (see ldig. 4) in the wall of said support. On the upper end of spindle 15 islixed a laterally projecting arm 23, said-arm being bifurcated at its outer end to receive a shoe 24 in the form of a roller revolubly mounted on a stud. f s shown in the drawings the split cellar 16 bears against a shoulder on the under side of the web 12 of pulley 12, and arm 23 rests upon the upper end of stud 14, so that when spindle 7 is raised, as hereafter described, pulley 12. and the parts carried thereby will be raised to cause the shoe 24 toride Aover the face 6 ofthe cone cam to thereby bring the sealing roller into operative position. 'ik spring 25 (see lig. 2) encircles the several arms 23 and acts against the outer ends thereof to keep them pressed inwardly. r1 he sealing roller 20 as shown in the drawings is provided with h circumferential flange 20 constituting the working edge which is made slightly rounded.

Bearing upon the upper end of spindle- 7 is the long arm of a lever 26, the other arm of said lever resting in a seat formed by a collar 27 on the upper end of a vertical spindle 28.

he lever 26 is bent as shown in lig. 1 and i is fulcrumed lat the bend against a stud 29 fixed in the bifurcated head 3() of frame 1 '1 he reduced lower end 32 of spindle 28 (see 3 to permit of the longitudinal movement of said spindle. Surrounding spindle 28 and bearing between bracket 3 and collar 27 is a spring 31 which exerts an upward pressurel on the short arm of lever 26 to hold spindle 7 i normally in the position shown in l'ig. 1, and I to exert a downward pressure on the cap during -the sealing operation. This pressure in l practice is from 900 to 1,00() pounds. The l. reduced end 32 of said s indle maybe threaded to receive a nut 33 t e purpose of which is to draw spindle 28 downwardly to enable the placing o1 lever 26 in position or its removal when necessary. l'he upper end of spindle 7 is threaded at 34 to receive a nut 3,5. "ihe latter bears upon the fixed collar 9 or upon the bracket 2 and thus limits the'downward movement of s indle 7.

Secured to t ie under side of web 12 of `pulley 12 is a depending guide for the bottle to i be capped. Said guide is flared outwardly at its lower end as indicated at 37, and the neck thereof formed with suitable openings 38 to permit entrance of the sealing rollers 20 to bear upon the cap flange.

r1he operation of the machine above described is as follows. l'he bottle to. be capped, a portion of the neck 39 of which is shown4 in liigs. 3 and 4, has placed thereon by hand or automatically a metal cap 40 ofany well known type and provided preferably with a sealing disk 41 of cork .or other suit able material. 'lhe cap rests upon the rim of the bottle with its depending liange 42 surrounding the annular shoulder or bead 43 of the bottle neck. 'lhe bottle is supported upon a suitable table and raised thereby into sealing position. As the bottle supporting and lifting means constitute no part of the i present invention they have not been illusmyself of anywell known means for the purpose. 'lhe lower end of spindle 7 isformed with a slight recess 7' (see Fig. 1) to constitute a chuck, the internal diameter of said chuck and its corrliguration being such, relatively to a standard size and shape of bottle rim and cap, as to apply a uniform and evenly distributed pressure upon t-he cap and around the over-lying corner thereof and to e'lleet a reshaping of the cap into exact conformity with the rim of the bottle. This rc- ,sults when the bottle is forced upwardly into l and against the chuck, the plane of impact extending over the corner of the cap. At the same time the sealing -disk 4,1 is compressed over the rim of the bottle.

1n lfigs. 1 and 3 the parts are shown in pel sition at the moment of impact of the bottle l against the chuck, it being noted that in such Ivposition the shoes 24 rest against the flange 13 of pulley 1-2. The further upward moven ment of the bottle raises spindle 7 against spring 31 tending to compress the latter unlfig. 1l passes through an opening in bracket i til the bottle reaches its uppermost position.

les

to lmpart a slight rotary movement to spin..

dle causing thel corresponding sealing roller to project through its opening 38 in the neck of the guide 36 and toA yieldingly bear against the dependin cap flangel lhe pulley 12 being rotated t ie sealing rollers 20 will be moved around the cap flange, the working edges of said rollers bending the flange 42 into secure locking engagement with shoulder 43 so as topresent a perfectly true and smooth surface without bending or folding of the metal.

-It will be noted that the sealing rollers 20- are supported in normal working relation to the ca flange in a downwardly inclined plane from t e bottle neck and that they are permitted to yield in a direction substantially at right angles to their axes of rotation. In practice the angle of inclination may vary from 30 to 50 degrees, the best results having been obtained at anv angle. of about 45 degrees. Thisv means of presenting the sealing vroller to the cap `flange has many advantages over any sealing machine with which I am familiar, the.- rinciple being that the sealing tool is enabled to reach in under the shoulder 48 working with a yielding pressure ina downwardly inclined4 plane with a rolling motion.'

The'angle ofthe cam face 6 is suchas to move the sealing-roller a sufficient distance tocause it to bear against the cap flange with force enough 'to bend said flange under shoulder'43, the 'spring 21 holding the sealing tool in, working position and permitting it to yield when meeting any. inequalities 'in' the shoulder or variations in the width of bottle necks. The working edge 20 of the sealing roller strikes the capI ilange at or near .the

'edge vthereof as indicated in Fig. 4.

Owing to the manner of mounting the sealing tool whereby it remains in fixed relation to the spindle 7 the inward movementof said tool due to cam 6 is the only movement necessary to bring it into working position; this being true whatever the height of the bottle 'may be. In ractice bottles of a given type vary in heig t as much as one and one-half inches and the cam face 6 is made to meet such conditions; that is, the cam 6 is made of sufficient length to position the sealing tool for the bottle ofleast height of a given type liable to be met with in practice. rl`he calnm should also be of such shape as to throw the sealing tool far enough to insure the sealing of a cap of the smallest diameter of neck of a given ty e. If only one tool is used the roller shouldp be maintained in sealing operation by the cam during at least one complete revolution around .the neck of the bottle. Afterpassing the cam 6. the shoes 24 rest against the outer wall of sleeve 6.

In the present specification I have used the wordA bottlef forconvenience of description as meaning any form of receptacle having a shoulder or bead about its head and flange of a' sealing with said shoulder.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising a sealing tool adapted to bend the flange of a cap into locking relation with a shoulder on the bottle, a support for said tool, the latter being mounted in its support in a plane downwardly inclined' from the bottle and maintained at substantially a fixed angle of inclination to the axis oi" the bottle during the sealing operation, a spring cap into locking relation Awhich is adapted to be closed by bending the A to yieldingly hold said tool to its work, and

means for rotating-the tool about the bottle head.

2. A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising' a sealingtool adapted to bend the lian e of a cap into locking relation with a shoul er o n the bottle, a support forsaid tool, vthe latter vbeing mounted in its support in a plane downwardly inclined from the bottle, a spring bearing against said tool and adapted to be compressed when the latter is pressed against the ca lange to thereb)l old said tool yieldingy to its work, 'and means for rotating said tool about the bottle head.

3. Ahead for a bottlesealing machine comprising a sealing tool adapted to bend the flan e of a cap into locking relation with a shouli er on the bottle, a support for said' mediately back of the tool and adapted to be compressed when the/sealing tool is pressed against the cap flange to thereby hold the tool yieldin ly to its work, and means for rotating sai( tool about the bottle head.

4. A head for a bottle sealing machine com rising a sealing tool adapted to bend the i ange of a cap into lockmg engagement,

with a shoulder on the bottle, a support for said tool, said tool being mounted in its support in a plane-downwardly inclined from the bottle and maintained at substantially 'a iiXed angle of inclination to the axis of the bottle during the sealing operation; a spring to yieldingly hold said tool to its work, means for swinging said tool laterally toward and away frein the bottle head, and means for rotating said` tool around the bottle head.

5. A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising a tool having a peripheral flange constitutinvr the-'working edge thereof, a support for'said tool, said tool being mounted in its support in a plane inclined downwardly from thebottle at substantially forty-five degrees, a spring bearing against said tool to hold the latter yieldingly to its work, means for swinging said tool laterally toward and away from the bottle, and means for rotating said tool around the bottle head.

6. A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising a sealing tool held in normal Working relation to the cap i'lange in a planey at an angle to a horizontal plane, a pulley on which said tool is supported and means for rotating said pulley and thereby said tool around the bottle head.

7. A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising a sealing tool revolubly mounted in a plane at an angle to a horizontal plane, and means to perinit said tool to yield in said Vplane in a direction substantially at rightangles to its axis et rotation.

8. A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising a longitudinally movable spindle the end' of which constitutes a chuck to receive the bottle, a pulley mounted on and movable with said spindle, a sealing tool lcarried by said pulley said tool being held` in normal working relation with the cap flange in a plane at an angle to a horizontal plane, means to move said tool into working relation with the cap llange, and means to rotate said pulley.

9. A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising a spindle the lower end of which constitutes a chuck to receive the bottle, a pulley mounted on and movable with said spindle, a sealing tool carried by said pulley, and a guide for the bottle secured to the under side of the web of the pulley.

10. A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising a longitudinally movable spindle, i a pulley mounted on and movable with said spindle, a spindle rotarily mounted in a bearing on said pulley, a scaling 'tool carried by said latter spindle in a plane at an angle to y a horizontal plane, means to rotate said last named spindle to thereby move the sealing tool into working relation with the cap flange,

' and means to rotate said pulley.

thereby move the sealing tool into Working' relation with the cap flange, and means to rotate said pulley.

12.' A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising a longitudinally movable spindle, a tool support mounted on and movable with ysaid spindle, a sealing tool carried by said support and suspended below the lower end of said spindle, a guide for the .bottle secured to said support, said guide being provided withopenings to permit of the movement of said tool into Working relation With the capilange, and means to rotate said support.

1.3. A head for a bottle sealing machine comprising a plurality of sealing tools held in normal working relation to the cap flange in the same lixed plane at an angle to a horizontal plane, and means for moving said tools to effect the desired bending of said lange. ,AY Y

ln testimony whereof l have hereunto signed my name in the presence ol two sub-l scribing witnesses.

ALFRED L. WESSEN'llIANilllt.

Vitnesses:

it. W. Asumir, (Timmins 5. JONES.

ley mounted on and movable with said 

